Container closure



July 6, 1943 s. A. BENNETT 2,323,443

CQNTAINER CLOSURE Filed Feb. 17, 1941 Patented July 6, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTAINER CLOSURE Stevens A. Bennett, Chicago, lll.

Application February 17, 1941, Serial No. 379,329

(Cl. 22o- 61) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to closures adapted for containers made of sheet steel such as pails, drums, or the like, and is particularly directed to closure rings for fastening the covers on such containers. Various types of such closure rings have heretofore been proposed and used, and the principal object of the present invention is to provide a simple and effective ring for this purpose which may be readily applied and which may be broken or ruptured by means of a suitable tool in order to remove the ring from the container, such tool also serving to remove the ring.

Other objects are to provide a closure ring which is weakened at a single point, preferably adjacent to the joint in the ring, and which has a tab or projection at the weakened portion for breaking the ring and also for removing it from the container.

Other objects a-nd advantages will appear more fully from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side view of a portion of the ring show-n somewhat enlarged from the usual size;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of a pail or container showing the closure ring before it is bent to closing position;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the ring in closed position; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the container illustrating the removal of the closing ring.

The pail or container 5 may be of any of the usual forms having a top bead 6 and a cover 1. The cover has an outwardly projecting ange 8 which extends over the bead 6 and is provided with a gasket 9 which is preferably formed of suitable material molded directly in the flange.

My improved closing ring I0 has a main depending or skirt portion II and an inwardly extending ange I2 which rests on the ange 8. 'I'his ring may be of continuous construction, but usually will be made with overlapping ends forming a joint I3 which is fastened by spot welding or in any other suitable manner. The ri-ng is weakened as indicated at I4 adjacent to the joint, preferably by cuts or scores I5. Such weakening provides a denite line of breakage whileleaving the ring sufficiently strong for the usual fastening purposes. I provide a tab or projection I6 adjacent to the scoring, but on the side opposite from the joint I3. This tab or lug is fastened to the ring as by spot welding indicated at Il, and has a slot or hole I8 which is adapted to be engaged by any suitable tool such as a screw driver I9 for breaking the ring and removing it from the container.

The ring is applied in the usual manner and the lower edge of the skirt portion II is bent in under the bead 6 by means of a closing machine such as is commonly used for this purpose. When the cover is to be removed, a screw driver or other suitable tool is inserted in the slot I8 and may be conveniently rotated over the upper edge of the ring which will act as a fulcrum to break the ring at the weakened portion. After these rings have been applied, it will be understood that they are quite stiff and often considerable effort is required to tear them loose from the bead and flange in order to remove the ring from the container. The screw driver may be kept in position in the slot and used as a handle for pulling the ring loose, as will be seen from Fig. 4. It will also be noted that the ring will be stiflest at the joint and by locating the scoring or weakening adjacent to the joint, a definite point of breakage is provided and the joint section is apt to keep in place on the container while the other end of the ring is being loosened and unwrapped from/,its fastening position until finally the entire ring is removed.

Having thus described my invention. what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In combination, a container having a peripheral top bead, a cover having a flange extending over the bead. a closure ring having a skirt portion for engagement with the bead and a flange portion for engagement with the cover flange, said skirt portion being bent under the bead to hold the cover in closed position, the ends of said ring being overlapped and welded together, said ring being scoredtransversely closely] adjacent to the overlapped ends to facilitate breaking the l same, said score line extending across said flange and skirt portions of the ring, a lug welded to the' skirt portion of said ring and depending therefrom and positioned closely adjacent to the scoring on the side opposite from the overlapped ends and having an opening forreceiving a tool which may be projected therethrough for breaking the ring at said score line.

STEVENS A. BENNETT. 

